All posts by Steven Novella

Founder and currently Executive Editor of Science-Based Medicine Steven Novella, MD is an academic clinical neurologist at the Yale University School of Medicine. He is also the host and producer of the popular weekly science podcast, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, and the author of the NeuroLogicaBlog, a daily blog that covers news and issues in neuroscience, but also general science, scientific skepticism, philosophy of science, critical thinking, and the intersection of science with the media and society. Dr. Novella also has produced two courses with The Great Courses, and published a book on critical thinking - also called The Skeptics Guide to the Universe.

Are We Ready for Mpox

Are we ready for the next potential pandemic? It seems like we are just get over COVID and already we have to worry about the next one. We first covered the monkey pox (now mpox) in 2022. Since then it has continued to be a concern. Where do our efforts to contain this infection stand? To recap, the disease mpox is the...

/ August 28, 2024
An illustrated human body diagram showing the effects of COVID-19 on various organs. Key areas labeled include the brain (cognitive impairment, stroke), lungs (cough, shortness of breath), skin (bruising, rashes), nose (loss of taste or smell), heart (pounding heart, heart failure), and kidney (increased risk of acute injury and failure).

More on Long COVID

It’s interesting to follow the scientific exploration of a new clinical entity in real time. It reveals a lot about how medical science works, and how scientists nibble away at complex problems. This is partly why I have been closely following the story of long COVID as it has unfolded over the last few years. I also see patients with long COVID...

/ August 21, 2024

Vaccines for Children Program Works

We have often stated here on SBM that vaccine programs are the most effective, and most cost-effective, public health measures in human history. They save lives, prevent disease, and save money. These benefits are all well researched and copiously documented. A recent CDC study adds to the literature on the benefits of vaccines and vaccine programs, focusing on the effects of the...

/ August 14, 2024
Acupuncture needles

Acupuncture and Evidence Based Medicine

Over the last few decades there has been a steady infiltration of acupuncture into Western mainstream medicine. It is not unreasonable to conclude that acupuncture’s journey from an exotic Eastern practice to a fringe treatment to mainstream acceptance has been complete. Knowledgeable proponents of science based medicine (SBM) who remain skeptical of acupuncture now find themselves on the fringe. How did this...

/ July 31, 2024

The Evidence for Rehabilitation Robots

Rehabilitation robots, first introduced in the 1990s, are just what they sound like – robotics used to aid in regaining function through rehabilitation following an injury. The idea sounds compelling, and the technology has been advancing steadily. But still we have to ask ourselves the question – do they actually help, and what is the evidence? A recent comprehensive meta-analysis and systematic...

/ July 24, 2024

Conspiracy Medicine

Was COVID cooked up in a lab? Do “they” have a cure for cancer and are hiding it from the public? Do pharmaceutical companies make up diseases to market otherwise failed drugs? Did insurance companies scheme with infectious disease professional organizations to suppress treatments for chronic Lyme disease? Did the supplement industry lobby congress to weaken regulations of their own products? OK,...

/ July 17, 2024

Science vs HIV

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a global pandemic, with 39 million cases worldwide, and over 1 million new infections each year. While it rose to epidemic and then pandemic levels in the 1980s, the first case goes back to 1959. HIV is a retrovirus that inserts its genetic material into the DNA of host cells, and targets the immune system as...

/ July 10, 2024

Microplastics and Global Health

What is a science-based medicine approach to potential public health risks? We write a lot about such risks here, trying to put them into perspective and cut through the hype and sensational headlines. We all have more than enough to worry about without adding unnecessarily to this burden. At the same time, humans have transformed our environment with industry, potentially introducing new...

/ July 3, 2024

Firearms as a Public Health Crisis

The US Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, recently put out a 40 page report titled: “Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America.” The report is entirely informational, without any policy force, but Murthy is hoping it will have the same long term cultural effect as the Surgeon General’s warning about the health risks of tobacco. I wrote about this exact issue in...

/ June 26, 2024

The Decaf Wars

We can add decaffeinated (decaf) products to the list of things you probably shouldn’t worry about but someone wants to make you worry anyway. You may have read recently that some decaf coffee and tea brands have “chemicals” in them that may be a health risk. The real story, as you might imagine, is more complicated. The cause of the recent headlines...

/ June 19, 2024